• Burmese
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
27 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

How the West Was Won

Bertil Lintner by Bertil Lintner
June 11, 2015
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0 0
A A
How the West Was Won

President Thein Sein

14.9k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

It’s a pity this book is only available in Norwegian. It would have been useful for a much broader audience to see what kind of naïveté prevails among Westerners trying to understand what has happened in Myanmar over the past few years.

According to the book’s author Kristoffer Rønneberg, a correspondent for the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, Norway was behind it all. The new “democratic” course charted by the Myanmar government, Rønneberg writes, is “in my view the most significant victory for Norway’s authorities in recent times.”

In all fairness, it should be said that “Veien til Mandalay: En reise fra Burma til Myanmar” (“The Road to Mandalay: A Journey from Burma to Myanmar”) is mainly a travel book and Rønneberg’s accounts of his visits to various parts of the country are lively and interesting. But when it comes to his attempts to understand Myanmar politics, he evidently ventures into unfamiliar territory.

RelatedPosts

Ma Win Maw Oo, soaked in blood, is carried by two medics on Sept. 19, 1988 in downtown Yangon after troops gunned down peaceful demonstrators. / S. Lehman / Visions

Why the Past Can’t Be Put to Rest

September 19, 2020
8.2k
Renowned Myanmar language teacher John Okell is still inspiring students, five decades on.

Love of the Lingo

August 5, 2020
10.2k
Maung Thaw Ka (standing, left) accompanies Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (with microphone) during her first-ever speech to the Myanmar public, delivered outside Yangon General Hospital on Aug. 24, 1988, two days before her historic address to a huge crowd outside the city’s Shwedagon Pagoda.

A Tribute to Maung Thaw Ka

June 11, 2020
7.6k

He is not alone in believing that it was Western engagement with Myanmar’s generals that led them to embark on a process of change after conducting a completely fraudulent election in November 2010.

The Danish-Australian academic Morten Pedersen suggested in an interview in April with the Institute for Security and Development Policy—a Swedish think-tank not known for its astute analyses—that “re-engagement by Western countries has helped support and deepen the reform process” but “Western re-engagement has not gone far enough… [and] there is an urgent need to demonstrate to the top generals in particular that the military too stands to benefit from reform.”

If anything, both Rønneberg’s and Pedersen’s views on Myanmar reflect what amounts to a blatantly neo-colonial attitude. Words to the effect of: “We have to go and tell those funny little brown fellows how to run their country, and, because we are big and clever white guys, surely, they have to listen to us.”

It is, however, easy to imagine what the Myanmar generals’ reaction must have been when they received those Western proponents of engagement: “Those myaukpyu [white monkeys] are sort of amusing. But they are not very clever. So let’s use them.” Or words to that effect…

Countering China

The bitter reality is that it is the Myanmar generals who have successfully—and cleverly—managed to engage the West, not the other way round. The decision to re-approach the West was not taken because the generals were induced by some foreigners into a democratic awakening.

Internal, classified documents from the Myanmar military, compiled as early as 2004 and seen by this contributor, show that it was the country’s heavy dependence on China that prompted them to realize the importance of opening up to the West. One such document even lists the names of Western academics and think-tankers who were in favor of “engagement.”

But the officers who compiled those documents were astute enough to understand that any rapprochement with the West would require certain political initiatives such as the release of political prisoners, more press freedom and freedom of expression, a proper constitution for the country and a government that was not overtly military in nature. However, to give up power to a democratically elected government was never—and is still not—on the agenda.

It is also certain that “the China factor” was an important consideration when the United States decided to change its policy from one of isolation, sanctions and boycotts to “engaging” with the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein that assumed power in March 2011.

Myanmar’s only really close ally during this period of isolation was China, and its dependence on Beijing was so great that the country was sometimes described as a Chinese client state. All that has now changed, and Myanmar may be the only example in Asia of how the United States has managed to expand its influence at the expense of China’s.

Myanmar’s reform process has never been what it seemed—nor was the West’s response to it. The United States, naturally, has policies and priorities other than their oft-repeated support for democracy and human rights. The main issue that no one wants to talk about openly is, of course, the rising power and influence of China in the Asia-Pacific region—and here, there was a meeting of minds between America’s strategic thinkers and Myanmar’s generals.

Exuberant because of its success in this regard, the United States has abandoned talk of “free and fair elections” and Washington is now calling for the polls to be “transparent, inclusive, and credible.” The civil war, which is now more intense than at any time since the late 1980s, is conveniently brushed aside as a bump on the road to peace. Criticisms of ongoing human-rights abuses have become muted, if expressed at all. No one wants to hear any bad news. That’s not good for the “engagement policy.”

A Trojan Reindeer?

One of very few interesting revelations in Rønneberg’s book is to be found on page 206: Norway’s turnaround from being a vocal supporter of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement to the main proponent of “engagement” was, according to him, “done in consultation with the US.”

That makes perfect sense. The United States could not directly “engage” the then ruling junta because of acts passed by Congress, and the other main Western power, the European Union, was also prevented from cozying up to Myanmar’s generals because it had similar policies.

But Norway was in an ideal position to act as a cutout for Western interests in Myanmar. Norway is not a member of the EU, but it is a partner of the United States in the Western defense alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

All historians are aware of the tale of the Trojan horse, a subterfuge the ancient Greeks used to enter the city of Troy in disguise. So have we now seen a Trojan reindeer, with non-EU, NATO member Norway acting as a cutout for United States and perhaps also other Western strategic interests in Myanmar?

According to a human rights activist with long experience working on Myanmar issues: “By 2011 there had already been a marked shift in Norway’s policy, in favor of cooperation with the government and away from the exiled opposition, including what should have been non-politicized humanitarian assistance. Thein Sein became the poster-boy of Norwegian self-interest and corporate greed and the betrayal of the democratic opposition.”

The Spoils of Engagement

Indeed, Norway was awarded for its new policies with a lucrative contract for its telecom company, Telenor. The Norwegian ambassador to Bangkok, Katja Norgaard, who had been instrumental in implementing the new policies, went straight from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry to a high-placed job with Telenor.

Corporate greed went hand in hand with geostrategic considerations—“if we were not doing this, the Chinese would do it”—some Norwegian foreign ministry officials have said in private to pro-democracy activists. Perhaps Rønneberg is right in a sense: Myanmar has been a foreign-policy success for Norway. But not for turning Myanmar into a “democratic state,” which it is not.

At the same time, Norway’s new policies have also cost it a lot of goodwill among the population at large in Myanmar. It is no longer seen as a supporter of democratic change. It is also evident that the neo-colonial, patronizing attitudes of not only Norway but also of deluded academics like Pedersen will have little or no influence on actual, political developments in Myanmar.

The military has its agenda. Their “political process” has not stalled, as some Western observers like to put it in light of recent repressive actions against student-led social movements in the country; it was never meant to be more than this. The generals have succeeded. They have the West on their side, have lessened their dependence on China and, most importantly, they remain in power.

If Myanmar is ever going to become a functioning democracy, it will be because of actions taken by the Myanmar people themselves, not because of the Norwegian diplomats and Western academics who are evidently overestimating their ability to influence the people in power in Myanmar. Those outsiders are mere pawns in a game of which they understand very little.

“Veien til Mandalay: En reise fra Burma til Myanmar” by Kristoffer Rønneberg is published by Dreyers Forlag, Oslo, Norway. This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: A_FactivaFeaturesMagazine
Bertil Lintner

Bertil Lintner

Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist, author and strategic consultant who has been writing about Asia for nearly four decades.

Similar Picks:

Aung San: A Legacy Unfulfilled
Stories That Shaped Us

Aung San: A Legacy Unfulfilled

by Kyaw Zwa Moe
February 11, 2015
14.6k

Born in 1915, Aung San’s aspirations for a unified and democratic Myanmar went unfulfilled in his lifetime and have yet...

Read moreDetails
From Aung San’s Driver to Centenarian
Stories That Shaped Us

From Aung San’s Driver to Centenarian, a Long and Winding Road

by Kyaw Zwa Moe
April 29, 2015
12.7k

As the man who drove Gen. Aung San to Panglong, 100-year-old U Khan is proud of the small part he...

Read moreDetails
The Safe Sex Talk
Specials

The Safe Sex Talk, Burmese Style

by Samantha Michaels
January 20, 2014
27.7k

In a Buddhist-majority country where talking about intimacy is taboo, efforts are under way to develop a better system for...

Read moreDetails
Kokang: The Backstory
Burma

Kokang: The Backstory

by Bertil Lintner
March 9, 2015
18k

The site of fierce recent fighting, Shan State’s Kokang region has a complex history of feuding warlords and thriving drug...

Read moreDetails
Inspiring Women of Burma  
Burma

Inspiring Women of Burma  

by The Irrawaddy
March 18, 2016
33.6k

The contributions of some of Burma’s leading female figures are highlighted in the final part of a series that ran...

Read moreDetails
The Life of Burmese Male Sex Workers in Chiang Mai
Features

The Life of Burmese Male Sex Workers in Chiang Mai

by Kyaw Kha
November 18, 2014
46.7k

Dozens of young men from poor villages in Shan State work as sex workers in gay show bars in northern...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post

Mixed Response as Charter Reform Bill Goes to Parliament

Kachin IDPs Hit Hard by Reduced Humanitarian Aid

Kachin IDPs Hit Hard by Reduced Humanitarian Aid

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

6 days ago
1.3k
‘Not a Witch Hunt’: Upholding Survivor-Centered Justice in Myanmar

‘Not a Witch Hunt’: Upholding Survivor-Centered Justice in Myanmar

5 days ago
644

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Launches Space Agency With Russian Help

    Myanmar Junta Launches Space Agency With Russian Help

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s ‘Living Fence’ on Thai Border Falls to Karen Resistance

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Indian Army Accused of Deadly Strike on Separatists in Myanmar

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Moves into Nawnghkio Outskirts

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Invites Investment in Ruby and Mineral Towns Amid Myanmar Junta Onslaught

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.